THE LONDON FIRE BRIGADE AND THE SUPPLY OF WATER AT FIRES. 77 high ground that some may be disposed to take, that Sabbath-breakers are more likely than others to be punished by fire; but simply because the man who overtasks himself by working every day of the week, Sundays included, or who makes up by working on the Sunday for hours idly spent during the preceding days of the week, is likely to be less watchful, careful, and steady, than one who habitually abstains from labour on the appointed day of rest, and never gives up to dissipation those hours which belong to industry. Your man of "all hours" is proverbially a reckless man; one who is as likely to allow his pot as his passions to boil over. Mr. Baddeley's remedy for all the fancied deficiencies of the Fire Brigade is, to hand over their functions to the City and the Metropolitan Police! "Let us hope that Government will at once bring forward and carry into effect such a perfect and efficient system of Fire-police as will be creditable to the science of the country, and afford, as far as human efforts can accomplish, the utmost possible assistance to rescue both lives and property from fire, unfettered by the chilling influences of calculating commercial policy. * * * "To an efficient and well-organized Firepolice we must come at last."-Mech. Mag., No. 1127, pp. 184-186. Mr. Braidwood has contended, on the contrary, in the paper of his read before the Institution of Civil Engineers, that "to add to the numerous and varied duties of the police, that of firemen would only be to confuse them;" and there are few reflecting persons, I apprehend, who will not be disposed to agree with him. It stands to reason, that where there are peculiar duties to be performed, they will be best performed by one class or set of persons devoting themselves to them solely and exclusively. An excellent marksman with the musket or rifle may make but a sorry artilleryman; a rare bombardier, but an awkward lighthorseman. Catching thieves and putting out fires are two as different occupations, requiring as different talents, as any two pursuits in the world. Besides, I have never yet heard it said, that the police of the metropolis have not, as it is, quite enough to do. Why, then, burden them with more? Mr. Baddeley refers to the "Liverpool practice," as conclusive of the fallacy of Mr. Braidwood's objection to the union of the fire and police duties. I should have thought Liverpool would have been the last place that any person would have gone to, for an example of good management in regard to fires. For the number and destructiveness of its fires, no place, perhaps, is so famous; but I have yet to learn that it is famous in the fire way for anything else. Indeed, I have no doubt that it is in a great measure owing to that very union in Liverpool of the functions of fireman and policeman, which Mr. Baddeley praises so highly, that it has suffered of late so much from conflagrations. A Bill, it may be remembered, was brought in last year by the ministers, but withdrawn, "for the better prevention of damage by fire in the metropolis and its neighbourhood." The reason of its being withdrawn may not, however, be so generally known, or at least remembered. Here it is : "On the 16th of July, I presented a petition to the House of Commons, pointing out many of the incongruities and absurdities embodied in the proposed enactments, as well as the dangerous results that might be expected from the passing of so ill-considered a measure. On the following day the Bill was withdrawn."-No. 1127, p. 183. Most puissant yet modest Mr. Baddeley! He had but to nod his dissent to cause Sir James Graham and Lord Lincoln to pocket their bill, and beg he would say no more about it. De mortuis nil nisi bonum is not, however, Mr. Baddeley's rule of action. He rails at the Bill as fiercely as if he and all of us had something very dreadful to apprehend from it. He expends all his wrath, however, on the mere details of the measure, and never once adverts to what I take to have been its grand fault, and the true cause (Mr. Baddeley's wonder-working petition notwithstanding) of its withdrawal. I refer to the heavy pecuniary burdens, which it would have imposed on parishes-heavy, I mean, in comparison with any benefit which could have been derived from it. Ministers found on enquiry at the Fire Brigade establishment that during the eleven years commencing with 1833, the total number of persons who lost their lives by houses taking fire was only 71, and that of these not more than fourteen could have been saved by means of fire-escapes, being at the rate of little more than one a-year. To guard against this very trifling casualty, the Bill proposed to compel parishes to go to an expense in providing fireescapes, and keeping them in constant readiness, which could not have amounted to less than 25,000l. a-year! Ministers hesitated, and well they might, to press SO onerous a measure. If they had pressed it, I do not believe the parishes would ever have submitted to it. (To be concluded in our next.) P.S. In my last there was a mistake made (from a misreading of my MS.), which I take this opportunity of correcting. It was only in the case of the 3rd and 4th experiments, related at p. 53, that "both engines were worked by the same number of hands." In the 1st and 2nd, the Brigade engines was worked by 90 men. The Dock engine was said to have had 45 men all through. RONALD'S PATENT SUGAR-BOILING Sir,-Your remarks in No. 1146, on the above apparatus and patent specification are, I think, perfectly just; but not so severe as they ought to have been. I know something of sugar-making; I know something of steam-of evaporation; and I know a good deal of the patent laws -the disgrace of this country; and I hope thereby to enlighten Mr. Ronald on subjects which he does not appear so well acquainted with as he ought to be. The title of his patent is, "An apparatus for boiling sugar-cane juice, and other liquids." (This you ought to have given with the specification.) Now it is well known to those versed in patent law, that the specification must agree with the title; if it describes or claims more than the title will allow of, it is bad, and would not be held valid in a court of law. Does Mr. Ronald's specification stand this test? No. By his rigmarole, or corps de reserve, he claims "other modes of accomplishing the said invention or objects ;" and, among other reserves, "I reserve the right to drive or work any kind of machinery which I may apply to effect the object of my said patent (query, invention ?-if it be one) by the force of boiling liquid." Preserve us! If the invention had been worth the trouble of even writing a specification for, (and to any person who may be induced to use it, I candidly believe it would not be worth even that,) the claim ought to have been simply for the apparatus described; and that would have been better in law than all he has claimed. 66 His first claim states an utter impossibility, namely, that the heating power of pipes is greatly increased by admitting steam at two places instead of one; which is about equal to this: Mr. Reserve,-Mr. Ronald, I meanputs a half-sovereign into each hand, and, holding them above his head, slips them down his sleeves, and thereby they come out at his back a couple of half-guineas; whereas, if he had dropped them both down one sleeve, they would only have come out a couple of farthings! Prodigious! Mr. Ronald ought to know this, that steam contains a certain quantity of heat, and whether conducted by admitting it at two places or twenty, he cannot thereby increase its effect. Why is such a statement as the following inserted into such a specification ?— "When the steam is admitted at one place only, a great deal of its heating power is exhausted before it reaches the farther end of the piping." Does Mr. Ronald imagine that sugar-boilers are so extremely ignorant as to require to be told such a thing? I however doubt, since he has made the statement, whether he can explain the reason of it! And can he explain why the sugar made by his apparatus, if any, is not of a better colour? or the cause of the colour of brown sugar? or if sugar is well drained before it is put on board, why it will not drain on the voyage? The evaporation of liquids is a very simple matter. Mr. Ronald's apparatus however, does not appear at all likely to effect the purpose so well, so rapidly, or so clearly as many others that have gone before it. He ought to have borne in mind, that rapidity of evaporation depends on the vapour formed being carried off as fast as it is generated; this can be done by condensation, or by bringing a current of dry hot air in contact with it, as is well known and practised, and on plans so good, that nothing can be better. I do not reserve the right to say more, except that I do hope, though I am a patentee, that the patent laws of this country will soon be abolished, or amended, being useless as they at present stand.* N. Gateshead, July 28, 1845. ABSTRACTS OF SPECIFICATIONS OF RECENT ENGLISH PATENTS. JOSEPH WEIGER, M.D., OF VIENNA, for improvements in the amalgamation, Why useless? According to our correspondent's own showing, they are so far useful that such foolish pretensions as those of Mr. Ronald stand no chance against them. His premises and conclusions are strangely at variance. The laws are in themselves, to our thinking, good enough; it is the excessive expense of putting them in force which is the great evil requiring remedy.-ED. M. M. SPECIFICATIONS OF RECENT ENGLISH PATENTS. alloying, and soldering of certain metals. Patent dated, December 12, 1844; Specification enrolled, June 12, 1845. Dr. Weiger's improvements are stated to have reference principally to the plates, springs, wires, &c., used by dentists. The silver and other metals which he employs are first obtained in the separate state by the following processes :-Silver is purified by dissolving it in nitrous acid; then precipitating it with muriatic acid, or with a solution of culinary salt, and afterwards decomposing the product by treating it with vegetable alkali or colophony. A pure gold is obtained by digesting gold in nitromuriatic acid, composed of one part strong nitric acid, and two parts of muriatic acid, and then treating the digestion in a solution of sulphate of iron. Platinum is obtained by digesting the metal in nitro-muriatic acid, as in the case of gold; the chloride thus produced is then treated with sal-ammoniac, which affords a triple salt, in the form of a yellow powder, which is converted into pure platinum by subjecting it to a red heat in a suitable furnace. Palladium is obtained by treating native platinum according to the usual and well-known methods. The several metals obtained as above are prepared for the process of compounding as follows:-Gold, silver, and palladium are first to be fused together, and the platinum added gradually to the mass in a comminuted state. Borax is used as a flux, in the proportion of one-fifth of the volume of the metals under operation; and to this the tartrate of potassa is added, in the proportion of one twenty-fifth part of the volume of the metals. In the process of fusion, it is necessary that the fusion of the gold and silver should take place first, and that the platinum or palladium should be then added to the metals already fused. In the case of platinum, the addition is made gradually and slowly. The fluxes are added at or near the commencement of the process. The relative proportions of the several metals used in the foregoing processes may be stated in a tabular form as follows. The number of parts of each is placed under their names respectively : No. Gold. Silver. Platinum. Palladium. 1 12 :6 1 1 10 14 79 In soldering, the patentee proceeds as follows:-Platinum is soldered with pure gold or silver, or with pure gold and silver in combination, and compositions of plati num are soldered with pure gold. A mixture of two parts silver with one part of gold is stated to be suitable for soldering other metals, and their compounds. GAMBLE, JOSIAS CHRISTOPHER, OF ST. HELENS, for improvements in the manufacture of sulphuric acid. Patent dated Dec. 4, 1844; Specification enrolled June 4, 1845. These improvements consist in the abstraction of the heat produced by the combustion of the metallic sulphurets employed in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, and applying it to the evaporation of acid and saline solutions. The metallic sulphurets employed in this manufacture, are the bisulphurets of iron and copper, and the great heat produced by their combustion injures the leaden chambers, rendering the sulphuric acid less pure and retarding its formation. The apparatus for extracting the heat and applying it to the purpose of evaporation, consists of a furnace in which are four kilns for burning pyrites, with two flues; the one in which the nitric-acid gas is produced, and the other for conducting it to the chimney. The nitre pots are put in at one end of the former of these flues, and taken out at the other; the apertures being all closed with doors when not in use, with the exception of those employed in discharging the pyrites. Above the flue that conducts the nitric-acid gas into the chimney, are three other flues, (also opening into the chimney,) which conduct the sulphurous-acid gas away from the kilns above mentioned. By this arrangement the nitric and sulphurous acid gases are kept separate until they enter the chimney, from whence they proceed to the leaden chamber. The kilns are in the shape of inverted rectangular truncated pyramids, 15 inches in diameter at bottom, 36 inches wide at top and 8 feet deep; they are fitted with doors for charging and stirring the material, and have also an opening for withdrawing or discharging the same. Over the kilns is thrown an arch of 10 feet in length, the spandrils of which are filled up to a level with the crown, so as to form a level bed whereon to rest one of the leaden evaporating pans; there are two other leaden evaporating pans placed over the flues that conduct the sulphurous-acid gas into the chimney; these pans, like the one above mentioned, are each 10 feet long and 6 feet wide, and are supported by iron bars resting on the walls of the furnace. These evaporating pans are in close contiguity and elevated in succession 2 inches above each other. Into the highest, or that which is nearest the leaden chamber formerly mentioned, weak acid is introduced, about the specific gravity 1.520, and brought forward by degrees to the lowest pan, where it is concentrated to 1.750. When soda is to be concentrated, or the solutions of common salt, a single iron pan may be used instead of the leaden pans above described. Since the flues conveying the sulphurousacid gas to the chimney are liable to get stopped by the sublimation of the volatile metallic oxides, it is necessary to have holes at the ends near the chimney for the purpose of cleaning them when foul. The claim in this case is, to the application of the heat produced by the combustion of bisulphurets of iron and copper, in making sulphuric acid, for concentrating that acid and other saline solutions. The specification is accompanied by drawings to show the nature of the apparatus employed, and the manner of conducting the process; but it is presumed, that practical chemists will perfectly understand the arrangement from the above description. CANAL STEAM NAVIGATION. On the 22nd ult., a trial was made on the Grand Junction Canal, of a small experimental steamer fitted with submerged propellers (not screws) on a plan recently patented by Captain W. H. Taylor. It was witnessed by the chairman and several of the directors of that navigation, and gave, we understand, the most unqualified satisfaction. No perceptible wave was produced by the boat when towing at the rate of four miles an hour, which is as great a speed as is required for the goods traffic on canals. We had ourselves, not long ago, an opportunity of seeing this boat at work on another canal, and were much struck with the absence of every external sign of the motivepower by which it was propelled. Not the slightest swell by which injury can be done to the banks, but an air bubble or two at the sides, which vanished as soon as generated. The success of this invention has led to the formation of an association for carrying goods by steam on the Grand Junction and other canals in connection with it; and so far as all the heavier kinds of goods are concerned, there can be little doubt of the canals being at length enabled, by this means, to compete effectually with their powerful railway rivals. In an early number we shall give a full description of Captain Taylor's invention. THE "METEOR" AND "FAIRY." Sir,-In your last Number, I see there is a letter from Mr. Cruden, of Gravesend, professing to give a true account of the tial of speed between the Fairy and the Meteor, when, in fact, it is nothing of the kind. The true particulars are these. The Meteor left Blackwall before the Fairy, and the latter was obliged to stop at Woolwich to take in stores, and not, as erroneously stated by Mr. Cruden, from “declining further contest." I think no man that knows how to judge the speed of one vessel as compared with another, would say (with such a trial as stated above) that the Meteor is the fastest boat by 1 mile per hour. The Fairy, after taking in stores, proceeded to Greenhithe, to have her compasses rectified. In the meantime, the Meteor had proceeded on her passage to Gravesend; and having landed her passengers, returned to Greenhithe to have a trial with the Fairy; but the latter was unable to accept the challenge, as it was of the greatest importance she should proceed to Portsmouth with as little delay as possible. I merely write this that the public may know what is really the case, and not be misled by that which is not the truth. I remain, Sir, Your obedient servant, London, July 30, 1845. NOTES AND NOTICES. Weston-super-Mare Suspension Bridge.-We perceive from the Gazette of this beautiful and thriving watering place, that measures are in full progress for connecting the mainland to the island of Bernbeck, by means of a suspension bridge on Mr. Dredge's principle. It is to be 1100 feet in length; the central span 545 feet; and the outside openings 272 feet. The "Fairy."-The cause of the Fairy having performed so indifferently in some of her recent trips, has been found to be that a rope had got entangled with the screw. The Rattler met with an accident of the same sort, when towing the Northern Discovery ships, which made it necessary to take her into Cromarty to be examined, and delayed for a short time the progress of the expedition. INTENDING PATENTEES may be supplied gratis with Instructions, by application (post paid) to Messrs. Robertson and Co., 166, Fleet- street, by whom is kept the only COMPLETE REGISTRY OF PATENTS. LONDON: Printed and Published by James Bounsall, at the Mechanics' Magazine Office, |